Otto von Habsburg[2] (20 November 1912 – 4 July 2011),[3][4] also known by his royal name as Archduke Otto of Austria, was the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in 1918, a realm which comprised modern-day Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and parts of Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. He subsequently became the pretender to the former thrones, Head of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece[5] in 1922, upon the death of his father. He resigned as Sovereign of the Golden Fleece in 2000 and as head of the Imperial House in 2007.

The eldest son of Charles I and IV, the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, and his wife, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Otto was born as third in line to the thrones, as His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke and Imperial Prince Otto of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia. With his father's accession to the thrones in 1916, he was himself likely to become the Emperor. As his father never abdicated, Otto was considered by himself, his family and Austro-Hungarian legitimists to be the rightful Emperor-King from 1922.[6]

Otto was active on the Austrian and European political stage from the 1930s, both by promoting the cause of Habsburg restoration and as an early proponent of European integration—being thoroughly disgusted with nationalism—and a fierce opponent of Nazism and communism.[3][7] He has been described as one of the leaders of the Austrian anti-Nazi resistance.[8] After the 1938 Anschluss, monarchists were severely persecuted in Austria, and—sentenced to death by the Nazis—Otto fled to the United States, with a visa issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

Otto von Habsburg was Vice President (1957–1973) and President (1973–2004) of the International Paneuropean Union, and served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) 1979–1999. As a newly elected Member of the European Parliament in 1979, Otto had an empty chair set up for the countries on the other side of the Iron Curtain in the European Parliament, and took a strong interest in the countries behind the Iron Curtain during his tenure. Otto von Habsburg played a central role in the revolutions of 1989, as a co-initiator of the Pan-European Picnic. Later he would be a strong supporter of the EU membership of central and eastern European countries.[9] A noted intellectual, he published several books on historical and political affairs. Otto has been described as one of the "architects of the European idea and of European integration" together with Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, and Alcide De Gasperi.[10]

Otto was exiled in 1918 and grew up mostly in Spain. His devout Catholic mother raised him according to the old curriculum of Austria-Hungary, preparing him to become a Catholicmonarch. During his life in exile, he lived in Switzerland, Madeira, Spain, Belgium, France, the United States, and from 1954 until his death, finally in Bavaria (Germany), in the residence Villa Austria. At the time of his death, he was a citizen of Germany, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, having earlier been statelessde jure and de facto and possessed passports of Monaco, the Order of Malta, and Spain.

In November 1916, Otto became Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia when his father, Archduke Charles, acceded to the throne. However, in 1918, at the end of the First World War, the monarchies were abolished, the Republics of Austria and Hungary founded instead, and the family was forced into exile in Madeira.[12] Hungary did become a kingdom again, but Charles was never to regain the throne. Instead, Miklós Horthy ruled as regent until 1944, in a kingdom without a king.

He spoke German, Hungarian, Croatian, English, Spanish, French and Latin fluently. In later life, he would write some 40 books in German, Hungarian, French and Spanish.[13] His mother made him learn many languages because she believed he one day might rule over many lands.[14][15]

Otto's family spent the subsequent years in Switzerland, and on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where Charles died prematurely in 1922, leaving the 9-year-old Otto pretender to the throne. On his father's deathbed, his mother, Empress Dowager Zita, told the 9-year-old, "your father is now sleeping the eternal sleep—you are now Emperor and King".[16] The family eventually relocated to the Basque town of Lekeitio, where 40 Spanish grandees bought them a villa. Meanwhile, the Austrian parliament had officially expelled the Habsburg dynasty and confiscated all the official property (Habsburg Law of 3 April 1919).

Otto von Habsburg (left) and Count von Degenfeld in 1933.

In 1935, he graduated with a PhD degree in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Louvain in Belgium. His thesis was on "the right, born of usage and of the peasant law of inheritance, of the indivisibility of rural land ownership in Austria".[17][18] From his father's death throughout the remainder of his time in exile, Otto considered himself the rightful emperor of Austria and stated this on many occasions. In 1937 he wrote,[19]

I know very well that the overwhelming majority of the Austrian population would like me to assume the heritage of the peace emperor, my beloved father, rather earlier than later. (...) The [Austrian] people have never cast a vote in favor of the republic. They have remained silent as long as they were exhausted from the long fight, and taken by surprise by the audacity of the revolutionaries of 1918 and 1919. They shook off their resignation when they realized that the revolution had raped their right to life and freedom. (...) Such trust places a heavy burden on me. I accept it readily. God willing, the hour of reunion between the Duke and the people will arrive soon.

He continued to enjoy considerable public support in Austria; from 1931 to 1938, 1,603 Austrian municipalities named Otto an honorary citizen.[20]John Gunther believed that Zita was less popular among Austrians, however, writing in 1936 that "restoration would be a good deal closer if Otto's return would not mean also the return of his mother—to say nothing of hundreds of assorted and impoverished Habsburg cousins and aunts, who would flock to Vienna like ants to a keg of syrup". A greater obstacle, he wrote, was the opposition of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, which feared that their people might want to rejoin a recreated monarchy.[18]

In 1920 Admiral Miklós Horthy overthrew the Hungarian republic and established a kingdom with himself as regent for the Habsburgs. Horthy made it clear that he did not wish the old king to take up his old position, and after his father's death, Otto was the nominal king, albeit still in exile. In the late 1920s, when Otto came of age, there was talk about him indeed taking up his position. On the advice of the Admiral, he decided not to do so.

I absolutely reject [Nazi] Fascism for Austria ... This un-Austrian movement promises everything to everyone, but really intends the most ruthless subjugation of the Austrian people ... The people of Austria will never tolerate that our beautiful fatherland should become an exploited colony, and that the Austrian should become a man of second category.[18]

He strongly opposed the Anschluss, and in 1938 requested Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg to resist Nazi Germany and supported an international intervention,[7] and offered to return from exile to take over the reins of government in order to repel the Nazis.[21] According to Gerald Warner, "Austrian Jews were among the strongest supporters of a Habsburg restoration, since they believed the dynasty would give the nation sufficient resolve to stand up to the Third Reich".[22]

Following the German annexation of Austria, Otto was sentenced to death by the Nazi regime; Rudolf Hess ordered that Otto was to be executed immediately if caught.[1][23] As ordered by Adolf Hitler, his personal property and that of the House of Habsburg were confiscated and not given back after the war.[24] The so-called "Habsburg Law", which had previously been repealed, was reintroduced by the fiercely republican and anti-monarchist Nazis. The leaders of the Austrian legitimist movement, i.e. supporters of Otto, were arrested by the Nazis and largely executed (Stefan Zweig's novella The Royal Game is based on these events). Otto's cousins Max, Duke of Hohenberg, and Prince Ernst of Hohenberg were arrested in Vienna by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau concentration camp where they remained throughout Nazi rule. Otto was involved in helping around 15,000 Austrians,[25] including thousands of Austrian Jews, flee the country at the beginning of the Second World War.[17][26]

During his wartime exile in the United States, Otto and his younger brothers were in direct contact with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the federal government. He tried to found an "Austrian Battalion" in the United States Army, which was delayed and never actually happened. However, he was able to successfully convince the U.S. to halt or limit the bombardment of Austrian cities, especially the capital, Vienna,[25] which were consequently delayed by high-ranking commanding personnel; bombardments on Vienna began later in the war (1943). Otto tried hard to set symbolic steps for the will of Austria and Austrians to be free, independent and democratic; he expressed concern that after the war, Austria was in danger of becoming a Soviet satellite state. Otto was commonly known in the U.S. as "Otto of Austria", trying to keep Austria and its neighbors in the minds of the American people via starting a series of stamps (the Overrun Countries series) containing the German occupied nations of Europe.

He obtained the support of Winston Churchill for a conservative "Danube Federation", in effect a restoration of Austria-Hungary, but Joseph Stalin put an end to these plans.[21] He lobbied for the recognition of an Austrian government-in-exile, for the rights of the German-speaking population of South Tyrol, against the deportation of the German-speaking inhabitants of Bohemia and eastern Europe, and against letting Stalin rule Eastern Europe.[29]

At the end of the war, Otto returned to Europe and lived for some years in France and Spain.

In 1949, he ennobled several people, granting them Austrian noble titles, although not recognized by the Austrian republic. As he did not possess a passport and was effectively stateless, he was given a passport of the Principality of Monaco, thanks to the intervention of Charles de Gaulle in 1946. As a Knight of Malta, the Order also issued him a diplomatic passport. Later, he was also given a Spanish diplomatic passport.[30]

On 8 May 1956, Otto was recognized as an Austrian citizen by the provincial government of Lower Austria.[31] The Austrian Interior Ministry approved this declaration of Citizenship, but on the condition that he accept the name Dr. Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, on 8 February 1957. But this only entitled him to a passport "valid in every country but Austria".[32] Otto had already submitted a written statement, on 21 February 1958, that he and his family would renounce all privileges formerly entitled a member of the House of Habsburg, but this first declaration did not satisfy the requirements of the Habsburg Law, which stated that Otto and other descendants of Charles could only return to Austria if they renounced all royal claims and accepted the status of private citizens. He officially declared his loyalty to the Republic of Austria on 5 June 1961, but this statement was ruled insufficient as well.

In a declaration dated 31 May 1961, Otto renounced all claims to the Austrian throne and proclaimed himself "a loyal citizen of the republic", a move that he made only after much hesitation and certainly "for purely practical reasons".[33] In a 2007 interview on the occasion of his approaching 95th birthday, Otto stated:

"This was such an infamy, I'd rather never have signed it. They demanded that I abstain from politics. I would not have dreamed of complying. Once you have tasted the opium of politics, you never get rid of it."[34]

The Austrian administrative court found on 24 May 1963 that Otto's statement was sufficient to meet this requirement. His wife and he were then issued a Certified Proof of Citizenship on 20 July 1965. However, several elements in the country, particularly the Socialists, were ill-disposed to welcoming back the heir of the deposed dynasty. This touched off political infighting and civil unrest that almost precipitated a crisis of state, and later became known as the "Habsburg Crisis." It was only on 1 June 1966, after the People's Party won an outright majority in the national election, that Otto was issued an Austrian passport, and was finally able to visit his home country again on 31 October 1966 for the first time in 48 years. That day, he traveled to Innsbruck to visit the grave of Archduke Eugen of Austria. Later, he visited Vienna on 5 July 1967.[35][36][37][38][39][40]

He was one of the men instrumental in organising the so-called Pan-European Picnic at the Hungary-Austria border on 19 August 1989.[3] This event is considered a milestone in the collapse of Communist dictatorships in Europe.[45]

In December 2006, he observed that, "The catastrophe of 11 September 2001 struck the United States more profoundly than any of us, whence a certain mutual incomprehension. Until then, the United States felt itself secure, persuaded of its power to bombard any enemy, without anyone being able to strike back. That sentiment vanished in an instant. Americans understand viscerally for the first time the risks they face."[46]

He was known as a supporter of the rights of refugees and displaced people in Europe, notably of the ethnic Germans displaced from Bohemia where he was once the Crown Prince.[48] He was a jury member of the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award.[49] He also held Francisco Franco in a high regard and praised him for helping refugees, stating that he was "a dictator of the South American type, not totalitarian like Hitler or Stalin".[50]

On the 2008 anniversary of the Anschluss,[52][53][54][55][56] Otto von Habsburg made a very controversial statement, as part of his "1938 Remembrance Day" address before Parliament that "there is no country in Europe that has a better claim to be a victim of the Nazis than Austria".[57] The context of this statement left little room for the media to interpret it in a better light. Although his speech received an ovation,[58] the Habsburgs were once again distanced from the popular opinion of the Austrian people, as demonstrated in public protest, media criticism and disapproval voiced by Austrian politicians.[59]Social Democratic PartyDefence MinisterNorbert Darabos was quoted as saying that the remarks were "unacceptable", "a veritable democratic-political scandal" and that he had "insulted the victims of National Socialism". Otto von Habsburg was also quoted as saying that "a discussion as to whether Austria was an accomplice or a victim is an outrage".[60]Austrian People's Party military spokesman Walter Murauer defended Otto's statement at the time[61] Murauer claimed that there was "another reality behind the mass of people who listened to Hitler on the Heldenplatz". Meaning the "thousands in the resistance and thousands in prison waiting to be transported to Dachau" near Munich. Murauer also recalled that Engelbert Dollfuß had been the only head of government in Europe to have been murdered by the Nazis. Murauer advised Darabos "to avoid populist pot-shots against an honourable European of the highest calibre." His son, Karl von Habsburg, also defended his father's words, in a 2011 statement, stating that "there were guilty parties in practically every country".[62]

Otto and Regina lying in repose in the Capuchin Church, Vienna, draped with the Habsburg flag. The guards of honour are dressed in Austro-Hungarian uniforms.

After the death of his wife, Regina in 2010, Otto stopped appearing in public. He died at the age of 98 on Monday, 4 July 2011, at his home in Pöcking, Germany. His spokeswoman reported that he died "peacefully and without pain in his sleep".[3][6]

On 5 July, his body was laid in repose in the Church of St. Ulrich near his home in Pöcking, Bavaria, and a massive 13-day period of mourning started in several countries formerly part of Austria-Hungary.[63] Otto's coffin was draped with the Habsburg flag decorated with the imperial–royal coats of arms of Austria and Hungary in addition to the Habsburg family coat of arms.

Andrea von Habsburg (born 1953). Married Hereditary Count Karl Eugen von Neipperg. They have three sons, two daughters and three grandchildren.

Monika von Habsburg, born on (1954-09-13) 13 September 1954 (age 60). Married Luis María Gonzaga de Casanova-Cárdenas y Barón, Duke of Santangelo, Marquess of Elche, Count of Lodosa and Grandee of Spain, who is a descendant of Infanta Luisa Teresa of Spain, Duchess of Sessa and sister of Francis, King-Consort of Spain.

Michaela von Habsburg, born on (1954-09-13) 13 September 1954 (age 60). Monika's twin sister. Married firstly Eric Alba Teran d'Antin, and secondly Count Hubertus of Kageneck. She has two sons Gabor an Adam from her first marriage. Twice divorced.[citation needed]

1941–1965: Otto did not have citizenship in any country, but he had a passport of Monaco from 1946 as His Imperial and Royal Highness Otto von Habsburg, plus a passport of the Order of Malta and a diplomatic passport of Spain under the same name)

^Otto was born as His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke and Imperial Prince Otto of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, and became the Crown Prince of these countries in 1916. After 1918, titles of nobility were formally abolished in Austria, thus von Habsburg turned into Habsburg. The same applied after Habsburg became a German citizen (see Printausgabe der deutschen Wochenzeitung die Zeit vom 21 July 2011, p.36). By courtesy, he would also be referred to by European courts by his former style and title, i.e. as His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Otto of Austria. In the Austrian republic, the authorities referred to him, from 1919, as Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, a name he never used himself. However, Otto did not live in Austria after 1918 and his citizenship there was revoked by Adolf Hitler in 1941, making him stateless. His Austrian citizenship was only restored in 1965. Otto later became a citizen of or was issued passports of multiple other countries, where his official name was Otto von Habsburg. As a Member of the European Parliament for Germany, his official name in the European Union was Otto von Habsburg. On his website, he used the style and name His Imperial and Royal Highness Dr. Otto von Habsburg.